'Female figurines and inscribed prayers to a "divine couple" found in temples in Israel suggest that the one God of the Bible may not have been entirely alone.

A recent excavation in Tel Motza, not far from Jerusalem, found what archaeologists believe to have been a ritual building - with clay figures of animals and men from the time of the First Temple, according to Israel's Haaretz news site.

The find suggests that Iron Age religion in the area around Jerusalem may not have been monotheistic just before the time the Hebrew Bible  the basis of the Old Testament - started to be written.

Now experts are increasingly suggesting that far from there being one God, there were many.

One expert, Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter, says there is increasing evidence of Israelites worshipping several gods - including one who may have been seen as Yahwehs wife.'

Francesca Stavrakopoulou (born 1975 in Bromley, England with an English mother and a Greek father) is Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion in the University of Exeter's department of Theology and Religion.(Snip) She describes herself as "an atheist with huge respect for religion" and regards her work as "a branch of history like any other"

From wikipaedia about the woman behind this story... for what it is worth

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posted on 09/18/2013 12:25:50 PM PDT
by BigEdLB
(Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)

I have a 2.5 hour round trip commute every day. I’ve been listening to the OT from cover to cover over the last few weeks. It’s really amazing to get it read to you like a book. It comes across very differently from when you are studying it through reading. I’m up to Ezekiel 16 so far.

That is another thing I was thinking when I read that article. They are not saying what gods existed. They are saying what gods they think people may have worshipped. And Israel was nailed for worshipping idols quite a bit.

A recent excavation in Tel Motza, not far from Jerusalem, found what archaeologists believe to have been a ritual building - with clay figures of animals and men from the time of the First Temple, according to Israel's Haaretz news site....Now experts are increasingly suggesting that far from there being one God, there were many.

"[The divine council is] the heavenly host, the pantheon of divine beings who administer the affairs of the cosmos. All ancient Mediterranean cultures had some conception of a divine council. The divine council of Israelite religion, known primarily through the psalms, was distinct in important ways."

The Old Testament is basically an account of how Israel went off the rails over and over again. So it's not surprising that they find archaeological evidence of Israel's idolatry.

I was thinking the same thing. Didn't this author bother to read the Bible? God has chosen the people of Israel. He extends the hand of mercy by rescuing them from Egypt. Within two months they have built a Golden Calf. God punishes them. They repent - for awhile. They return to idolatry. Repeat cycle... Until He sends His Son and shortly thereafter destroys the Temple and Jerusalem (the second time). But you are right, the Prophets (speaking the Word of God) are constantly telling the people to stop committing spiritual adultery by worshiping these idols...

1 Kings 11:5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

1 Kings 11:33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.

2 Kings 17:16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

Jeremiah 19:12-13 Thus will I do unto this place, saith the LORD, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet: And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

Acts 7:41-43 And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them: and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.

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